Costa de Caparica, Portugal, April 18, 2025 (Lusa) - Portuguese surfers Frederico Morais and João Mendonça qualified for the quarter-finals of the World Surf League (WSL) qualifying circuit at Costa de Caparica on Friday, with Martim Nunes falling by the wayside.
In the first heat, Frederico Morais came out on top with 10.03 points (out of a possible 20) on his two best waves (6.33 and 3.70), with Spain's Ruben Vitoria in second place with 9.77 (5.00 and 4.77) and France's Renan Grainville, with 9.10 (4.70 and 4.40), and Samuel Redon, with 7.04 (3.87 and 3.17), in third and fourth place, being eliminated from the event.
For his part, João Mendonça finished the fourth heat of the Round of 16 in second place, with 12.54 points (6.27 and 6.27), beaten closely by Spaniard Yago Dominguez, with 12.67 (6.50 and 6.17), with both athletes moving on, unlike Frenchman Noa Dupouy, third, with 12.07 (7.00 and 5.07), and Spaniard Adur Amatriain, fourth and last, with 10.47 (6.10 and 4.37).
In his third heat, Martim Nunes finished in fourth and last place with 7.63 points (3.83 and 3.80), behind France's Jorgann Couzinet with 13.33 (7.33 and 6.00), Israel's Ido Hagag with 10.70 (6.40 and 4.30), and Spain's Keoni Lasa with 10.67 (5.70 and 4.97).
In the next round, which will be on Saturday, ‘Kikas’, a former world top, will face Frenchman Charly Quivront in the first heat, and João Mendonça from the Algarve will enter the water in the third heat, facing fellow Gaul Jorgann Couzinet.
In the second heat, there's Spain's Ruben Vitoria and France's Thomas Debierre, and in the fourth heat, there's a duel between Israel's Ido Hagag and Spain's Yago Dominguez.
The semi-finalists in the women's section, which is worth 1,000 points, will be decided later today, while the men's championship offers 3,000 points to the winner. Both of these will be decisive in defining the qualifiers from the European region's QS circuit (seven men and four women) for the Challenger Series (CS) circuit, which allows entry to the world elite (Championship Tour) in 2026.
Caparica Surf Fest, the fifth and final event in the Qualifying Series, the equivalent of the WSL's third tier, began on Tuesday at Praia do Paraíso, on the Costa de Caparica in Almada, and will end on Saturday.
DN/ADB // ADB.
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